The invention relates to methods and substances for the targeted alteration of genetic information on an
RNA level. The substances are artificially produced guide RNAs, which are capable of recruiting endogenous editing enzymes, such as hADAR enzymes, in particular hADAR2 and hADAR1, in order to introduce targeted point mutations in selected mRNAs. The
guide RNA consists of multiple segments and is constructed in such a way that individual nucleotides from different segments pair to form a double
helix, and the nucleotides of a determined segment form a hairpin structure within the
guide RNA. The invention also relates to the method for directed
RNA editing, wherein the
guide RNA is transfected into the cells in which the
RNA editing is to be carried out. The substances and the method can be used for repairing individual, e.g.
disease-relevant point mutations, such as those leading to premature stop signals. An
advantage of the invention is that endogenous editing enzymes are also used in order to introduce targeted point mutations into the RNA. Only the short guide RNA, used for recruiting endogenous editing enzymes, must be artificially produced for each specific problem and ectopically expressed.